The new rural level has an extra layer of creepiness over the urban; it feels more open, and the brick of a city is always going to feel safer than a fading, endless forest. This is particularly true of a forest that generates zombies. Whereas the city level has a great line in claustrophobia, and keeps you on your toes with vertical combat, the cornfields level is that more fundamentally terrifying thing - a level where there is no safety, nothing to put your back against. It's especially true in the final dash through the cornfield, running nearly blind and just hoping that the zombies won't arrive before you get the doors closed.

You never see them spawn (that would be shit) but they've got the uncanny ability to be suddenly there. For the living dead (pedants please read 'those infected with a horrible disease that turns them into cannibals') they've got a real dramatic flair. Having been assured so many times that the gameplay was beyond the human capacity for description, my first thought was, this is pretty much what I expected. The four characters - John Everyman, Tattooed Biker, Freshly-Weathered Rich Girl and Grizzled Veteran - are unchanged, and are as much a part of zombie canon as putting too many vowels in the word 'brains'. They all play identically too, which'll reduce the bitching about who gets to play the cool biker.

The weapons range hasn't been extended, either - a choice of pipe bomb or molotov, SMG or shotgun, and a medkit each. It's certainly not the most expansive set of weapons, even with the auto shotgun, assault rifle and hunting rifle that become available at later checkpoints. But what did you want: bio-rifles and portal guns? Left 4 Dead keeps a tight focus on what it is; it don't need no stinkin' gadgets.